Snow Patrol is back, and I’m happy to report that they are mixing things up quite a bit. They have contributed to the soundtrack of the Irish independent film My Brothers, directed by award-winning filmmaker Paul Fraser.

The band’s slick electro-fused rock has gotten a bit formulaic over the last few albums, but the songs on the band’s website are sparse acoustic ballads that sound very retro.

Songs like the title track and “I’m Ready” sound like they were recorded on a shoe-string, the expensive production stripped to allow beautiful words and melodies to breathe.

“You might think you’re cursed/but what’s so much worse is the knowledge that you are/when you’re cursed with love buried so deep that you can’t dig it out of you,” Gary Lightbody sings on “My Brothers.”

The band plans a release of an EP this week to include the current single “Called Out in the Dark,” a spare electronic track that sounds a bit like Bell X1’s quirky digital doodles -- and that’s a good thing!

The band’s new album Fallen Empires will undoubtedly extend what seems to be a never ending tour for the band, who plays Brazil and Argentina later this month.